Adani puts mine funding 'on hold' until coal price goes up

by dburdon

Daniel BurdonDaniel Burdon is APN Australian Regional Media's Canberra bureau reporter, covering federal parliament and politics. He was previously a rural and general news reporter at the Morning Bulletin in Rockhampton and worked in Alice Springs for the Centralian Advocate.

THE Indian firm that owns the Adani Carmichael coal mine appears to have put any investment in the project on hold until the global coal price improves, a market analysts' report shows.

Just two days after the Queensland Government granted the mine environmental approval status, the Indian stock market analyst report from Axis Capital reveals the project may now be on hold.

It described parent company Adani Enterprises' investment in the massive central Queensland coal mine as "dormant" and said no capital expenditure was expected in the mine until at least the 2017 financial year, which begins in April 2016.

The report said that the firm's management had said "that further investments in its Australian coal mine project shall be dependent on visibility of revival in global coal prices".

While the mine has received environmental approval from the state government, the company has not made a final investment decision on the $16 billion project.

Other hurdles state Mines Minister Anthony Lynham also outlined this week included negotiations with landholders, traditional owners and local councils, while the company is also facing two court challenges to the mine underway.